Hu Mei is one of China's best female directors with her unique style. [xinhua]

Since graduating from the Directing Department at Beijing Film Academy in 1982, Hu Mei has emerged as one of the few outstanding female film directors in China. Her films blend artistry and reality well enough to form a unique style of hers.

In the past decades or so, Hu Mei has directed several TV series aired on CCTV during its prime time, such as Yongzheng Dynasty (Yong Zheng Wang Chao), Loyalty (Zhong Cheng) and so on. Currently, she is once again in the spotlight for selecting actors and actresses for the new version of The Dream of the Red Chamber.

From an actress to a director

Hu Mei used to be an actress in the Modern Drama Troupe of the General Political Division of PLA. Growing up in an artistic family, Hu, whose father is a conductor and mother is a singer, decided to go to Beijing Film Academy to be a director. Since then, she has been dedicated to the movie industry. 

In 1984, her first film Women's Chamber (Nv Er Lou) was highly praised by international film critics as the first movie on women's life in China after the Cultural Revolution. Two years later, her film Times Away from War (Yuan Li Zhan Zheng De Nian Dai) won her international awards.

But Hu did not continued her success until 1997, when two of her large-scale TV series sponsored by CCTV, Yongzheng Dynasty and The Qiaos House (Qiao Jia Da Yuan), brought her back into the spotlight since 1997.

From male-centered artistic creations to female-oriented

As a well-known director, Hu insists on her own creative style. She is successful and confident in portraying the character of Chinese men. Some very popular actors like Jiao Huang, Chen Baoguo and Chen Jianbin have all played in the series she directed.
 
The reproduction of The Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the classics in Chinese fiction, attracted attention as soon as news was released that Hu Mei would be directing it. While speaking about the cast of the show, Hu said she has to have full control over the entire selection process. In order to be fully ready for shooting, she is spending a lot of time reading and studying Chinese culture.

(Source: sina.com.cn / Translated by Women of China)